Wind

Customers don’t have to wait decades while the grid incrementally evolves to incorporate transformational technologies. Led by customer-driven choices and decisions, we in the utility industry can and should accelerate the transition.

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Author Bio:

Larry Kellerman is Managing Partner of TFC Utilities. He has spent over three decades in the electric utility, power generation and independent energy industries, previously as CEO of Quantum Utility Generation, Partner at Goldman Sachs and President of the firm’s electric power business, Sr. Managing Director at El Paso Corporation, President of Citizens Power, and General Manager of Power Supply and Wholesale Marketing at Portland General Electric after starting his career at Southern California Edison.

Juhl Wind and 8030 Companies formed a joint venture to acquire existing wind farms and additional generating assets in the United States and Canada. Operating under the Juhl Wind name, the partnership expects to buy 260 MW of older wind farms over three years. The company might purchase projectstotaling 60 MW of capacity in 2013 and 100 MW in two subsequent years.

When Revolutionary War veteran Daniel Shays led an attack on the federal Springfield Armory in January 1787—the spark that ignited the federalist movement—he scarcely could’ve guessed that now, 225 years later, his spiritual descendants would still be fighting that very same battle.

As the industry resumes major capital-spending programs, utilities and their stakeholders are rightly concerned about the effects on prices. Traditional regulatory approaches expose utilities to risks and costs, and can bring rate shock when capital spending finally makes its way into customers’ bills. Pre-funding investments can provide a smoother on-ramp to bearing the costs of a 21st-Century utility system — but it also raises questions for utilities to address.

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Author Bio:

Sherman Elliott is an independent consultant and formerly was a commissioner on the Illinois Commerce Commission. Ralph Zarumba is a director in Navigant’s energy practice.

Most utilities now face some sort of renewable portfolio standard (RPS), but is that all that drives investment in greener generation assets? Green Utility spoke with Brad Albert, general manager of energy resource acquisition and renewable energy at Arizona Public Service (APS), about why the regulated utility has decided to exceed that state’s renewable energy requirements.

Utilities in the Pacific Northwest are at the mercy of the weather. Winter snows, spring thaws and volatile winds always seem to bring either too little renewable power or way too much. For G&T co-op PNGC Power, wave energy promises a steady flow of nearby electricity for coastal load centers.